I recently asked my pal, Jason Keath if he could write out the history of Social Fresh. Here’s what he sent me. Enjoy! For those of us in Charlotte, you’ll remember much of what he speaks of…

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Written by Jason Keath – Owner of Social Fresh

In 2005 I decided I wanted to be a creative director for an ad agency.

This was pre-Mad Men mind you. But the fine arts major inside of me saw the creative world of agencies as a pinnacle of sorts.

Needless to say I got sidetracked.

Today, almost 8 years later, I am running a company called Social Fresh, a social media training company. Social Fresh started in 2009 as a social media conference in Charlotte, NC, where I was living and working at the time.

Social Fresh came about out of frustration. Working my way through three very different agencies, where I was lucky enough to be able to pitch social media strategies for clients and potential clients, I recognized that there was a big gap when it came to how people thought about social marketing.

I just finished enjoying his book “Get Seen” which was a fantastic run-down of the tips and tricks of online video. (It’s a great book if you’re thinking of getting involved in doing video and posting it online.)

During this year’s Blog World Expo, I happened to bump into him a few times and even got the chance to thank him for the hard work he must have put into writing the book.

He also gave a session entitled Video Blogging 101 that I attended.

Steve seems to have a pleasant personality and it comes through in his videos and his presentations in person. He talked positively about his mom’s blog and her “I can’t open it” video series.

Friday evening at the 2010 Blog World Expo included an interesting interview with the famous Brittish television producer Mark Burnett. Mark is known for creating and/or producing several popular shows such as Survivor, The Apprentice, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader.

Mark talked about some interesting stuff. He explained why he feels Survivor has been such a huge hit since it began in 2000. He detailed how the basic concept of death and rebirth is renewed in each and every show. Interestingly, he also talked about the use of the color of fire and how it (along with cobalt blue) is used in the show to represent death and life.

Also, the constant unknown of if your favorite character may be asked to leave is a huge draw for audiences. This style is used in his shows (such as Survivor and Apprentice), but also in shows such as American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. Previously, a main character would be in every show of a season. But with shows such as these, the viewer needs to keep watching to see if they will be in the next one or not.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY:

But the one thing that struck me from the interview was something he did not say (at least not directly).

With such incredible success over the past ten years or so, Mark still seems to have a real humble side to him. Several times in the conversation, he admited that he does not really understand social media and new media.

At one point, he stated that “I am a mental midget of social media”. He also stated “social media makes me feel stupid”. He says that he finds it both exciting and terrifying.

Think about that. Here is a modern genius of story-telling. He has been at the very top level of content creation. Content that gets incredible discussions on a weekly basis on blogs, tweets, forums, facebook posts, etc.

He CREATES the content that others talk about on social media and elsewhere. Yet, he readily admits that he does not really know that type of media.

He drives social media. Yet, he barely uses it.

My big takeaway? Be the story teller. Be creative. Social media will take care of itself. Be aware that it exists and do what’s appropriate. But don’t obsess over it.

In my last post, I explained that every marketer and business owner should move past just using social media and start thinking about blogging and working on their email newsletter.

Is Blogging Yucky?

Back in November 2007, Jerry Seinfeld said in an interview that the word blog is unattractive.

You can see the video below. (Forward to the time point 6:55 and you can hear what he says.)

It’s so true.

There is a certain connotation with blogging too.

Perhaps the political bloggers, teenagers, and other writers caused this, I don’t know. But I told a friend recently that I attended a “Blog Convention” last year in Vegas and he gave me the strangest look and comment back as if to say: “Ick! How gross!”

So What is Blogging?

So what’s the deal with blogging? Here’s what you need to know…

A blog is simply a website (or a part of a website) in which content is shown in chronological order. That’s it.

There’s nothing complicated about it. There’s nothing creepy or icky about it. The content can be anything you want. It’s simply information in date order.

The most recent thing you write is at the top. That’s all.

Why Blog?

What makes blogging so valuable is that it is easy. Once you get setup, writing an entry in a blog is actually easier than writing an email.

It then resides on the Internet virtually forever. Search engines, social media, other sites, and other people can find it and link to it.

All this draws attention to the content (and the images and links you place around the content).

What we Teach

In our blogging class, we start by giving everyone their own blank WordPress blog. We then show you how to use it step by step. We explain terminology and other pertinent information along the way.

It was a real pleasure to be the moderator and ask the four “Twitter expert” panelists some good questions. I really tried to push them to talk about the true benefit of Twitter and how they use it effectively instead of just wasting time on it.

The results were incredible. Twitter is buzzing in the Charlotte area and I hope it keeps up. Many that were present appreciated the opportunity to hear this stuff.